[JUDGE3]

Car is turning gray everywhere, sanding all the parts. feathering in the rear quarters.

learned so much along the way, amazing how much you have to pay attention to the very mil thickness straightness of the primer and how using the right sanding block straightens it out. learning how to tell when primer and sanding will do or a touch of filler is needed.

very rewarding feeling when you sand it to that sweet spot of straightness. and learned to not sand with hard pressure when not needed, its about getting it flat and straight not sanding wood.

rookie comments I suppose but heck i'm having fun with it now. I should be ready for paint by February but obviously have to wait till warm weather. also know I need a better spray gun for paint.

I will be painting the car dis-assembled, fenders, doors, hood, trunklid misc parts all off the car. really have to, but also want to because when the parts are off and painting them individually, I don't get overwhelmed and seems easier to concentrate and handle the spraygun better.

been a long haul but i'm already seeing myself driving it like theres no tommorow!

I'm going to cover each fender flare, front spoiler, behind the wheel at front fender, rocker panel, behind the rear wheel all with clear urethane sheeting to protect from the beating these cars take at these areas. I remember my new 1980 TA and how it was pebbled up in short time in these areas.

[grd777]

Originally Posted by JUDGE3

Car is turning gray everywhere, sanding all the parts. feathering in the rear quarters.

learned so much along the way, amazing how much you have to pay attention to the very mil thickness straightness of the primer and how using the right sanding block straightens it out. learning how to tell when primer and sanding will do or a touch of filler is needed.

very rewarding feeling when you sand it to that sweet spot of straightness. and learned to not sand with hard pressure when not needed, its about getting it flat and straight not sanding wood.

rookie comments I suppose but heck i'm having fun with it now. I should be ready for paint by February but obviously have to wait till warm weather. also know I need a better spray gun for paint.

I will be painting the car dis-assembled, fenders, doors, hood, trunklid misc parts all off the car. really have to, but also want to because when the parts are off and painting them individually, I don't get overwhelmed and seems easier to concentrate and handle the spraygun better.

been a long haul but i'm already seeing myself driving it like theres no tommorow!

I'm going to cover each fender flare, front spoiler, behind the wheel at front fender, rocker panel, behind the rear wheel all with clear urethane sheeting to protect from the beating these cars take at these areas. I remember my new 1980 TA and how it was pebbled up in short time in these areas.

very nice work

[JUDGE3]

Stumbled across this pontiac dash emblem I thought I would share for firebird owners that might want to lose the antiquated radial tuned suspension emblem.

Its on 1979 Grand Prix's. would look right at home in a firebird replacing the rts emblem. proly find em on ebay.

I made mine from an exterior grand prix emblem from a 1986. the pontiac was attached to it, I cut it off, smoothed and painted it. had I known about the 1979 one I woulda got one a those and had it easy!

[JUDGE3]

fitted the side marker Lense's front and rear. had to open up areas on the rear quarters, these were full quarters I cut to skins. front fenders were great, zero mods. very pleased with the repo front fenders. zero issues and fit great. of all the repop parts the fenders would rate my favorite. then the Danko fiberglass front spoiler and fender flares. excellent fit, and they do have the center reinforcement and mounting studs. i'll cover them in 3m urethane clear sheet and be golden from chips.

thinking a blue led under the scoop might be kinda neat. ha

I'm going to use 1973 Trans Am decals on the rear spoiler and fenders and the 455-HO decal of 1975. bigger decals, don't like the small 70-73 decals but dig the center stripe for sure.

[JUDGE3]

I used the roll over vent valve to trash the odd emissions set up that gos up into the back seat interior of all places. trashed the canister and line as well.

fabbed a cover plate where the original emissions piece was and sealed and bolted it back down.

ran the vent line and installed the roll over valve right back up where the original set up was, thus putting the valve equal to or higher than the fuel tank filler as required.

might not work out if you use the factory transverse muffler though.

[JUDGE3]

Had a window to spray epoxy primer today before it turns to a real cold spell.

many parts this is the last coat before paint. just the car itself now to block out repeatedly.

got odds and ends towards other items while awaiting warm weather season to paint. bummer having to wait.

[JUDGE3]

yeha, gotta finish this thread for the DIY guys.

researched a lot of help from autobody101 forum.

I purchased an iwata lph-4oo spray gun 1.4 tip, silver cap for clear, orange cap for basecoat. terrific gun.

I used the Ppg deltron system throughout. base coat clear coat.

simple water/dirt remover system, did not build a paint booth, opened my shop doors, bought 4 fans and let er rip. I don't want to come across boastfull at all but the results are better -far better- than an oem paint job which is exactly what I was after.

my 2nd paint job. learned a ton and enjoyed the heck out of it. was so much better prepared this 2nd time. it went great.

[JUDGE3]

was nervous! started with the always heard metallic was hard to shoot lucern blue scoop. came out great!

confidance went way up after this. bc/cc by the way, all of it.

[JUDGE3]

for me, reading so many folks have chemical reaction issues etc causing major rework paint issues. as a rookie, worried a lot about that. so thru the entire process I did every possible thing I could, cleaning the primer prior to paint and using quality tools and products to give myself the best chance possible for the result I was after.

all the liquids are expensive sure didnt wanna have to redo it.

[JUDGE3]

did this in 79-83 degree weather in may.

wet the garage floor and all but mercy the darn cottonwood seed were starting to fly and was terrified one would float its happy self in.

I painted it over a 10 day period. small parts first, then doors/hood/fenders then the main body. the endura bumper came out great to. was real happy with that.

was so glad to do it this way it kept from from that overwhelmed feeling painting the car apart. comes out much cleaner that way to iv'e noticed. no weird overspray areas etc.

[JUDGE3]

I had zero water issues and the iwata lph400 was so much better than the first gun I used. a good gun gives you confidance if you screw up its you not the gun ha.

what a difference lighting makes to. learned that from autobody101 forums. the patterened led lights in my shop throw things off a bit, outdoors you see the true results.

[JUDGE3]

also I learned un-beknownst to me, white is one of the hardest colors to paint! then I really got nervous. many say its the hardest to paint.

you battle a snowblind effect spraying white seeing the overlap pattern etc. I didnt feel it gave me a problem i just focused on seeing the wetting of the pattern very closely.

feels great to de-mask the car.

[JUDGE3]

I applied 4 coats color, 4 coats clear.

I originally primered the car black as most panels came coated that way and I had read when you add the light grey in the end its aids in block sanding (for a rookie) and reveals high/lows when you sand to much etc. so thats why the car went black primer to grey.

I wanted plenty of clear as having reading about wet sanding thru the clear. i didnt have that issue.

I used 1000 grit, then 1500, then 2000 for good measure.

finished up with mcquires m100 and the menzerna 3800 super finish. again, i'm a rookie but could not believe how the menzerna 3800 really brings it out.

wanted to mention, I did not use the evercoat superbuild stuff i bought after finding out its for rough panels with issues. mine were new panels and existing ones were straight.

in the body work, wanted to mention because I purchased it, I DID NOT use the evercoat superbuild stuff. found out thats for panels and such that are not in good shape. most my car is new panels or existing ones were nice after rust repairs.

I used a lake country twisted wool pad and then a black foam pad. it all went real well. other than my arm and shoulder. mercy thats hard work! very rewarding though.

[JUDGE3]

retrosound radio with kicker speakers installed.

and picked up the rear console to! now, way back in 1980 I always wanted one of the rear consoles but couldnt afford it. then, the vendors quit carrying them and recently they re-appeared so i snagged one right away, dang bucket list thing lol. that and my cragars. never could affors em so got em. so funny that kinda thing.

I have NEVER seen a car of these with the rear console. the new ones are kinda cool. supposed to be stronger and you can swap from drink holder usb ports to stock ash tray if you want.

the ram air decal on the dash: thats just a thing of mine. I owned 3 1969 Judges. 2 were original cars, a ram air 3 and a ram air 4. last one a clone. always liked the decal on the pull knob bracket so just flyin the flag of my previous cars. looks like it belongs there next to the speedhut gauges light dimmer knob. will make non pontiacs guys wonder to. ha ha

[JUDGE3]

so bought in 2015. 8 year journey here.

been retired over a year now and loving it beyond belief. my wife and I love hiking and go on camping hiking trips at least a full week every month of summer. and plenty of local kansas ones as well. 2 more coming up real soon.

so I'm guessing and in no hurry, its fun, i'll be wrapping the car up in september.

aluminum oxide blasting every bolt that gos back in.

heres where the car is at today. all wet sanding done, the small parts i'm not wet sanding, not after showy as I will drive/race the car. the orange peel is very minor the large main car and parts I did wet sand. outdoors you cant tell the small ones are not wet sanded. because its white? dunno.

[JUDGE3]

ever seen these?

vintage cragar 1995 nos spinners.

was surprised how they match the lucern blue. I ordered some same blue lugnuts I think they will be pretty cool with the cragars. a throw off of the 1999 30th annv trans am with blue wheels kinda thing.

they may look pretty cool with the cameo white paint and blue TA stripe.

[grd777]

Originally Posted by JUDGE3

I applied 4 coats color, 4 coats clear.

I originally primered the car black as most panels came coated that way and I had read when you add the light grey in the end its aids in block sanding (for a rookie) and reveals high/lows when you sand to much etc. so thats why the car went black primer to grey.

I wanted plenty of clear as having reading about wet sanding thru the clear. i didnt have that issue.

I used 1000 grit, then 1500, then 2000 for good measure.

finished up with mcquires m100 and the menzerna 3800 super finish. again, i'm a rookie but could not believe how the menzerna 3800 really brings it out.

wanted to mention, I did not use the evercoat superbuild stuff i bought after finding out its for rough panels with issues. mine were new panels and existing ones were straight.

in the body work, wanted to mention because I purchased it, I DID NOT use the evercoat superbuild stuff. found out thats for panels and such that are not in good shape. most my car is new panels or existing ones were nice after rust repairs.

I used a lake country twisted wool pad and then a black foam pad. it all went real well. other than my arm and shoulder. mercy thats hard work! very rewarding though.

very nice work .my is in the paint shop also

[JUDGE3]

doors, latches, locks, door jamb dome light switch, gm jamb placard, door bumpers, manual DRIVERS no octopus cable & passenger mirrors done.

gos together so easy having had it apart and fitted so many times. whats great is knowing now, putting something on its there to stay finally.

front/rear windshields are new, time for new side glass installation. then new felts/weatherstrip.

when I had the door latches out I tack welded the mounting studs to fix that common problem for good.

procured the vent pull kick panels also. my car had a/c, don't like a/c on my muscle cars but wanted the floor vent. no top cable function so removed the top cable and put in a simple plug.

[JUDGE3]

covers on the kicker speakers

the original to the car firebird fender emblems I wanted to somehow keep on the car but they were cracked out and badly faded so I aluminum oxide blasted em and they looked real good afterwards. almost like they came that way. anyway I adhesive siliconed one to the license plate access and it greets me everytime I fuel up. it was a perfect location it nestled up against the molded steel perfectly.

did the same with the other and put it on the inside of the trunk lid. I like decals and such.

now also the car is a 1973. I sure didnt plan it this way had hoped to finish it much sooner, so this year is the cars 50th anniversary. so I put the 50 year anniversary decal from the 76 Trans Am on the glovebox lid.

the caution high traction diff decal is a modified version from the Z28 camaro. didnt like the trunk jack decal really as the car will never carry a bumper jack or be lifted that way in a flat but oh well I had it.

didnt even need to glue the trunk weatherstrip it fit in so well. used strip caulk around all spoiler/bumper holes etc.

[JUDGE3]

thought I had new hardware already but didnt so awaiting my window glass mounting kit.

then my new carpet had a horribly mislocated heel pad and was kinked bad so have to resend and get new. molding error, darn heel pad was 4 inches up the tranny tunnel. sheesh.

so doing all the little things while waiting.

so on the blowout clips...these are factory installed with strong steel rivets and an air powered cherry max gun. have seen videos of installs with aluminum hand squeezed rivets that gurantee after bumps with the glass they will work loose. (43 years at aircraft mfg plant, I know rivets) the fbody guy has a video running screws in em and grinding the threads flush, so the screws barely holds that in. anyhoot i'm overkill and like it that way. welded mine in. couldnt plasti dip the originals, rust holes and such.

rear shelf in. really like the mesh shelf and funny now i'm older could care less about speaker grill covers screaming my brand of speaker.

removed the originals and welded on the brackets for the rear quarter interior piece.

the pros know already, just wanted to note on this rookie thread that everytime iv'e removed an original kick panel it had grey strip caulk. so found this wide caulk at home depot perfect for the mass quantity required on kick panels. already had the thin strip stuff for other areas. HD stuff was cheap to!